US President Donald Trump's Energy Security Council plans to host a summit in Alaska in early June to sell the concept of Alaska LNG.
The US administration hopes both Japan and South Korea will announce commitments to the project, newswires reported yesterday.
Trump is marketing the $44 bill Alaska LNG project, which would deliver gas from the state's North Slope fields via a 1,300 km pipeline for domestic use and also export it to Asian customers as LNG, thus by passing the Panama Canal.
While the project has been on the drawing board for years, progress has been slow, due to costs and the amount of work needed.
Trump had asked Japanese Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba to support the Alaska plan during a visit by the Japanese Government to Washington.
Last month, Taiwanese state energy company CPC Corp signed a non-binding agreement with the state-run Alaska Gasline Development Corp, to buy LNG and invest in the project, a move that Taiwan's President, Lai Ching-te said would ensure the island's energy security.
The summit being planned by Trump's National Energy Dominance Council, which wants to maximise oil and gas production, would take place around 2nd June, as reported by The New York Times.
In addition, Thailand officials, which could also offtake LNG from Alaska, and South Korea are expected to visit the state to talk about the project in the next couple of weeks, said a source to newswires.
Yesterday, South Korea's Industry Minister, Ahn Duk-geun said in Washington that he was not aware of a plan to announce a commitment, and "there are still a lot of things that need to be done" through due diligence of the Alaska LNG project in order "to understand the local situation more accurately".
He said that the country is sending an inspection team, and due diligence results would need to be examined to see how the discussions would proceed.
